The invention is generally directed to a garment having a protection suspension system for providing an improved joint protective guard on a garment, and in particular, to an improved hand and/or wrist protective guard suspension system for use as an in-line skate glove or similar hand covering.
In various sports in which the participant moves quickly, such as roller skating, roller blading or in-line skating, without substantial body and arm and hand protection, the wearer's hands and wrists are particularly susceptible to injury in the event that the wearer falls or hits a wall or obstruction while traveling at a high rate of speed. This risk is particularly acute in connection with the new sport of in-line skating, in which a skater may easily reach speeds in excess of 20 miles per hour.
Generally, such a skater does not wear bulky protection such as is commonly worn by ice hockey or lacrosse players who might be liable to fall forward, largely on their hands or wrists while traveling at high rates of speed. When an ice hockey player falls, the player is usually wearing a highly padded pair of gloves which protect the player's hand and wrist from flying pucks, sticks and fists, as well as from injuries resulting from the natural instinct of a person to extend one's hands downward toward the ground to break or slow a fall.
However, in the relatively new sport of in-line skating, or the older roller skating, both of which are usually performed on streets or paved pathways, the participant can travel at particularly high rates of speed and is susceptible to traumatic injury to the hands and wrist in the event that a crack in the road, an awkward movement or collision occurs sending the skater's upper body downward and, again, resulting in the instinctual desire to break one's fall with one's hands.
Severe injuries can be caused to the hand and wrist by putting out one's hands out to break a fall in even a relatively slow speed fall. As a result, it has become common for in-line skaters to wear padding of various sorts on their knees, elbows and heads to prevent dangerous injury. In addition, gloves of various types have been developed to protect the wearer's hands in the event of a fall in connection with in-line skating and similar sports.
Some of the gloves have soft padding of various types. While these types of gloves are an aid to hand and wrist safety, they are not suitable for preventing injury in the event of a high speed fall where the hands are placed outward to break skater's fall.
In an effort to provide additional protection to the wearer's hands in the event of a traumatic fall, gloves have been developed which incorporate hard plastic protective guards sewn into sleeves or pockets on the palm side of the gloves. While these gloves have improved the degree of protection to the wearer's hands by forming a hard barrier between the wearer's hands and the ground upon impact, these protective guards, due to their construction, transmit the entire force of the traumatic contact with the ground to the wearer's hand and/or wrist in the region of the protective guard. As a result, these protective guards, while preventing direct contact of the wearer's hand with the road or pavement, do not effectively cushion the wearer's hand and wrist from the great forces concentrated on the wearer's hand when the weight of the skater's body is being supported at high speeds at the end of a fall.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved hand covering or glove for use in in-line skating and similar sports and work activities in which the wearer's natural instinct to throw one's hands outward to break a fall seriously raise the possibility of substantial damage to the hand and wrist area or other joints of the body including without limitation, the knees, elbows, shoulders and hips.